The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
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AMENDMENT NO. 402 TO AMENDMENT NO. 358
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I shall offer an amendment. The amendment is at the desk. It is amendment No. 402. I call up the amendment at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:
The Senator from West Virginia [Mr. BYRD] proposes an amendment numbered 402.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
On page 893, after line 14, add the following:
SEC. __. GRANTS FOR THE TEACHING OF TRADITIONAL AMERICAN HISTORY AS A SEPARATE SUBJECT.
Title IX (as added by section 901) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``PART B--TEACHING OF TRADITIONAL AMERICAN HISTORY
``SEC. 9201. GRANTS FOR THE TEACHING OF TRADITIONAL AMERICAN HISTORY AS A SEPARATE SUBJECT.
``(a) IN GENERAL.--There are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 to enable the Secretary to establish and implement a program to be known as the `Teaching American History Grant Program' under which the Secretary shall award grants on a competitive basis to local educational agencies--
``(1) to carry out activities to promote the teaching of traditional American history in schools as a separate subject; and
``(2) for the development, implementation, and strengthening of programs to teach American history as a separate subject (not as a component of social studies) within the school curricula, including the implementation of activities to improve the quality of instruction and to provide professional development and teacher education activities with respect to American history.
``(b) REQUIRED PARTNERSHIP.--A local educational agency that receives a grant under subsection (a) shall carry out activities under the grant in partnership with 1 or more of the following:
``(1) An institution of higher education.
``(2) A non-profit history or humanities organization.
``(3) A library or museum.''.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, this amendment authorizes to be appropriated $100 million to enable the Secretary to establish and implement a program to be known as ``Teaching American History Grant Program'' under which the Secretary shall award grants on a competitive basis to local educational agencies--to carry out activities that will promote the teaching of traditional American history in schools as a separate subject; and for the development, implementation, and strengthening of programs to teach American history as a separate subject, not as a component of social studies, within the school curricula, including the implementation of activities to improve the quality of instruction and to provide professional development and teacher education activities with respect to American history.
A local educational agency that receives a grant under subsection (a) shall carry out activities under the grant in partnership with one or more of the following:
(1) An institution of higher education.
(2) A nonprofit history or humanities organization.
(3) A library or museum.
Mr. President, I started school in a two-room schoolhouse 79 years ago, in 1923. It was 1924 that John W. Davis of Clarksburg was nominated on the 103rd ballot for the office of President of the United States. He was defeated by Calvin Coolidge.
My first teacher was a woman by the name of Carrico. Her husband had lost his arm as a brakeman on, I believe, the N&W railroad. Mrs. Carrico was my first teacher and she taught the lower grades.
We started out in the Primer and the main character in that primer was Baby Ray. And there were two rooms, as I say. In the other room, a man by the name of Lawrence Jennings taught the upper grades. I went through the Primer in about 3 weeks. I promoted myself when it came to geography. Being in the same classroom with other students in the first, second, third, fourth grades--I believe the fourth grade was in the same room--I learned a lot by listening to the other students in the higher grades.
There was a geography book. I can remember it as though it were yesterday; it was Fryes Geography. Well, I liked geography; I liked the maps and the pictures. So I went home one night and said to the man who raised me, a coal miner--he was my uncle by marriage--``I want a copy of Fryes Geography. I like that book.'' He said, ``Well, we will go to Matoaka,'' which was about 5 miles away. This was all in Mercer County, in southern West Virginia. ``We will go to Matoaka on Saturday, which is pay day, and we will get Fryes Geography.''
He took for granted that the teacher had asked me to ask him for this book. The teacher didn't ask me to do that. I just decided I wanted it. So we caught the train and went to Matoaka. There was no highway up to Algonquin. Algonquin was the coal camp. There was no highway up to Algonquin from Matoaka.
The railroad ran across Clark's Gap Mountain, and we went by railroad, a passenger train, from Matoaka up to Algonquin. We went by Giatto and Weyanoke in Mercer County. That is the way we went from Matoaka to Algonquin.
Mr. Byrd, the man who raised me, was a man who didn't have much education. He probably never went to the second grade. He could barely read. We had a Holy Bible in our house. That was about the only book at our house. I always called him my dad because I loved him and he loved me. I didn't know anybody else as a father. His wife was my aunt. She was my natural father's sister, and I had three brothers and a sister. But losing my mother when I was 1 year old, my biological father could not care for five children. That was back in the days when he probably earned only $3 or $4 a week working in a furniture shop.
Upon the death of my mother during the influenza epidemic, he gave the children to his sisters. He kept the one daughter. I only saw her when I was in high school--about 15 or 16 years old. I saw my sister then for the first and only time.
But there we were. These people who took me in to be raised loved me. They had one child prior to their taking me as their adopted child. That child had died of scarlet fever. So they had me as their adopted son. They loved me. I never knew about a mother's kiss. My aunt was tough, very religious, and strict. I never knew a mother's kiss, but she loved me.
Anyhow, I went home one evening, and I said to my dad--as I say, I called him my dad because, as far as I knew at that time, he was my father. Now, I went home and I said I had to have a Fryes Geography. So on Saturday, we caught the passenger train, went down to Matoaka and bought Fryes Geography.
I took it to school on Monday. The teacher Mrs. Carrico, said, ``I didn't tell you to get this.'' I said, ``Well, I have to have it and I want to study it.'' That teacher let me keep that book and let me study along with the class in which the book was being taught.
Well, I came to love my teachers, and we had a category on that report card that was denominated ``Deportment.'' My old coal miner dad told me, ``If you get a whipping in school, I will give you another whipping when you get home.'' I wanted to please that coal miner dad, and I wanted to please those teachers. Back in those days, I say to Senator Kennedy, the history book was by Muzzie.
It did not have a lot of pictures in it. It was full of narrative. I often ask the young pages who serve us--we have different pages from year to year to let me see their history book. I ask the students, the pages: Who is Nathan Hale? If an American history book does not tell us about Nathan Hale, I do not think it is much of a history book.
Who was Nathan Hale? Nathan Hale was a young schoolteacher, 21 years of age. When George Washington asked for a volunteer to go behind the British lines and spy on the British fortifications and bring back drawings of the British gun placements, and so on, this young man by the name of Nathan Hale, age 21, schoolteacher, volunteered to go.
He went behind the British lines. He accomplished his mission. On the night before he was to return to the American lines, he was arrested as a spy, and, of course, the drawings and the papers were in his clothing. The next morning, September 22, 1776, he was brought before a gallows, and as he
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He was asked by the British captain, whose name was Cunningham: Have you anything to say?
Nathan Hale said:
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
Nathan Hale died for his country. I often wonder why people cannot give one vote for their country--whether they are Republicans or Democrats, why they will not vote, why they will not give one vote for their country Nathan Hale gave the only life he had for his country.
That history book taught me about Nathan Hale. As a lad, I memorized my history lessons. I memorized them by the light of an oil lamp. I memorized history. I liked history. I liked to read about Francis Marion the ``Swamp Fox,'' Nathanael Greene, Daniel Morgan, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison. They were my heroes.
So I say today we need good history books and good teachers so that the boys and girls today will find their heroes among the early Americans who built this country.
I came to appreciate the fact that the peoples of western Europe, eastern Europe, central Europe, southern Europe, northern Europe and elsewhere came to this country and helped to build it. My heroes were those men and women who were mentioned in the history books. The teaching of history is important.
When I moved out of that area of West Virginia--moved out with a wagon team--we moved up a hollow called Wolf Creek Hollow. We were 3 miles up that hollow.
I then attended another two-room school up on the mountain. I walked to that school with a man by the name of Archie Akers. He was one of the two teachers in the school. He would walk from 3 or 4 miles down the hollow up by my house, and I would get with him and walk on up to the top of that mountain to that school.
I had two teachers there. One was named Mary Grace Lilly. I remember the first day I went there. She said: If you have a fence and you can't get over it, you can't get under it, what do you do?
I held up my hand. She called on me. I was eager to be called on. I said: If you can't get over it, you can't get under it; you go around it.
She patted me on the head and said: That's right.
I memorized my lessons. Yes, memorized my lessons. I loved to do it. I loved to be called on by the teachers. I liked my teachers. I had good teachers. They did not get paid much. Very little did they get paid, but they were dedicated teachers.
We did not have any electricity in the house. We did not have any running water. If we wanted to go to the toilet, we had to go outside to a privy behind the house. No radio. Never heard of television. You see, that was in the twenties.
I will never forget those books. Those history books, to a degree, shaped me to what I am today. They shaped me, they shaped my attitude, they shaped my outlook, and I came to want to be like James Madison or Webster or Clay or some other historical figure.
Oh, yes, I had my sports hero. That was Babe Ruth or Jack Dempsey--these are some years later. But history, history had an impact on me, may I say to my friend, Senator Kennedy. It had a decided impact on me when I was just a boy, 8 years old, 9 years old, 10 years old, and was a root of my ambition to try to make something out of myself.
Mr. Byrd, who raised me, wanted me to go to school and to learn and to get a better education than he had been given. As I say, if he went to the second grade, I do not know that.
He did not want me to be a coal miner. He wanted me to get an education. And in those days, when I graduated from high school in 1934, it was something to have a high school education.
I heard it said by my elders: If you don't get a high school education, you are not going to amount to much, you are going to have a hard time. You have to have a high school education.
We had great teachers, good high school teachers. W.J.B. Cormany, William Jennings Bryan Cormany, was the principal of the high school.
When we moved out of that hollow, Wolf Creek Hollow in Mercer County and moved to a coal camp, I enrolled at the Mark Twain School. The principal of that school, when he learned that I could recite whole chapters from the history book, took me up before the senior class and had me perform for the senior class. Well, that kind of enhanced my reputation around the school--to be able to go up before the senior class and recite history.
So, I loved my teachers. We were talking about teachers a minute ago. I often worked to be the best student in the class in order to please my teacher. David Reemsnyder, a huge man, when I was in junior high school, taught mathematics, Algebra, and geometry. I wanted to please him.
Mrs. W.J.B. Cormany taught music. I wanted to study the violin because she wanted me to study the violin.
That is the kind of influence teachers had on me. I always wanted to be the best student in the class, to please my teachers and to please that old coal miner dad who reared me. There is no way to establish the worth of a good teacher.
A Builder builded a temple,
He wrought it with grace and skill;
Pillars and groins and arches
All fashioned to work his will.
Men said, as they saw its beauty,
``It shall never know decay;
Great is they skill, O Builder!
Thy fame shall endure for aye.''
A Teacher builded a temple
With loving and infinite care,
Planning each arch with patience,
Laying each stone with prayer.
None praised her unceasing efforts,
None knew of her wondrous plan,
For the temple the Teacher builded
Was unseen by the eyes of man.
Gone is the Builder's temple,
Crumpled into the dust;
Low lies each stately pillar,
Food for consuming rust.
But the temple the Teacher builded
Will last while the ages roll,
For that beautiful unseen temple
Was a child's immortal soul.
I have done a little reminiscing here today. The Senator I am most fond of saying is my favorite Senator on this side of the aisle, Senator Kennedy--one gets into trouble saying things like that--saying ``This man, this Senator, is my favorite,'' or, ``that Senator is my favorite.'' They are all my favorites. But Senator Kennedy is my favorite favorite Democratic Senator.
A few days ago, he wanted me to do a little reminiscing about my schooldays. You see, I have been going along life's pathway quite awhile. I came from those deep roots, and I like to speak of my remembrances of those teachers who sacrificed, back in the Depression. They couldn't get their checks cashed. They had to surrender 20 percent, sometimes, of the monthly check, the total check, in order to get it cashed. That was in the Great Depression.
Mr. President, my amendment to the budget resolution, as I have already indicated, will add $100 million in fiscal year 2002 to function 550, education. This increased funding will allow for the continuation of an American history grant program I initiated last year. That program is going, it is ongoing, it is moving. This program is designed to promote the teaching of history, American history.
It is shocking--it is shocking--to read of students who do not know that the Civil War occurred during the second half of the 19th century. They cannot place the Civil War in a specific 50-year period with accuracy, let alone say it was from 1861 to 1865. They don't even know what half century it occurred in. So we are falling down badly in teaching American history. And history is so important.
Byron, Lord Byron, said, ``History, with all her volumes vast, hath but one page,'' meaning that history repeats itself. And it does. It repeats itself.
When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, H2O was water. Water was made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. And it is still that way. It has never changed. It is still H2O.
It is the same with human nature. Human nature has never changed. Cain slew Abel, and men are still slaying their brothers. It has not changed. That is why we can truthfully say, and mean it, that history repeats itself--not in every precise and particular detail, but one needs to know history.
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An unfortunate trend of blending history with a variety of other subjects to form a hybrid called ``social studies'' has taken hold in our schools. I am not against social studies, but I want history. If we are going to have social studies, that is OK, but let's have history.
Further, the history books provided to our young people, all too frequently, gloss over the finer points of America's past. My amendment provides incentives to help spur a return to the teaching of traditional American history.
Every February our nation celebrates the birth of two of our most revered presidents--George Washington, the father of our country who victoriously led his ill-fitted assembly of militiamen against the armies of King George, and Abraham Lincoln, the eternal martyr of freedom, whose powerful voice and iron will shepherded a divided nation toward a more perfect Union. Sadly, I fear that many of our Nation's schoolchildren may never fully appreciate the lives and accomplishments of these two American giants of history. They have been robbed, the students have been robbed of that appreciation robbed by our schools that no longer stress a knowledge of American history, robbed by books that purport to be history books but are not history.
Study after study has shown that the historical significance of our Nation's grand celebrations of patriotism--such as Memorial Day or the Fourth of July--is lost on the majority of young Americans. What a waste. What a shame.
American students, regardless of race, religion, or gender, must know the history of the land to which they pledge allegiance. They should be taught about the Founding Fathers of this Nation, the battles that they fought, the ideals that they championed, and the enduring effects of their accomplishments. Without this knowledge, they cannot appreciate the hard won freedoms that are our birthright.
Our failure to insist that the words and actions of our forefathers be handed down from generation to generation will ultimately mean a failure to perpetuate this wonderful, glorious experiment in representative democracy. Without the lessons learned from the past, how can we insure that our Nation's core ideals--life, liberty, justice--will survive? As Marcus Tullius Cicero stated: ``..... to be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.''
Many groups are interested and have expressed support for this grant program. Representatives from the National Council for History Education, the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History, the American Historical Association, and National History Day have all expressed enthusiasm for this grant program. They are very supportive of this effort.
So, for those reasons, I offer this amendment to the budget resolution to increase function 500 (education) by $100 million in fiscal year 2002, and I urge the adoption of it.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Smith of Oregon). The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, some few days ago when we were on the floor of the Senate--I think it was at that time, or perhaps even a little later in the week as we find ourselves today--we listened to our good friend from West Virginia. At that time he quoted one of his famous poems that, as his poem today suggests, had a deep-seated meaning to it. I took the occasion to ask him prior to the time that we were going to end this debate and discussion if he might recall his early years as a student and share them with us once again on the floor of the Senate.
I have had the good opportunity to listen to the good Senator speak on many, many different subject matters, and always with great enthusiasm, strength, and belief for the causes for which he speaks, so many of which I agree. I always find, having listened to him for many, many years, that the stories he talks about of his early years and the power of education is really a lesson that all of us should hear because it reminds all of us about what, in this case, this legislation is all about and what we are attempting to try to provide for the young people in this country.
If we were ever possibly able to sort of capture that extraordinary magic that was evidenced in that small school, the primer schools and then after that, and somehow develop in that classroom the atmosphere which brought Bob Byrd to sense the great desire and thirst for knowledge and personal achievement, accomplishment, and desire to really respond to the teachers by demonstrating keen intellect and an awareness in the classroom, and to take those early lessons and use them as guideposts for the rest of his life resulting in this extraordinary career of public service for the people of West Virginia, and the people of this Nation, I think our problems really as a country and as a society would be immensely advanced.
Whenever I listen to Senator Byrd, I think about what we were trying to do in terms of different paragraphs, different authorizations and approaches in what we were trying to do in different provisions of the legislation. It always makes us think about what we ought to be doing better to try to make the dream of education and the kind of opportunity this extraordinary Senator felt, which was so much a part of his pathway to his own life and such a source of strength to him, as well as his deep-seated faith--we would be very fortunate if we were ever able to sort of capture that in a legislative undertaking. We have not done so with this legislation, needless to say.
But we are going to continue to try to create a climate and atmosphere in the schools so other Bob Byrds in West Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont, and across this country might perhaps have a similar life's experience, and, as a result of that, we would have a better and a stronger nation.
I thank the Senator for his amendment. I know very well the Senator's strong interest in history.
I will just take a moment or two to remind the Senate that one of our great historians, David McCullough, will be releasing his wonderful book on Adams and Jefferson. The book is going to be published in about 2 weeks. They have already printed some 350,000 copies. I don't think they have underestimated both the success of the book or the thirst of Americans for knowledge about this country in its early years.
I remember the occasion when I was at the Longfellow House in Cambridge, MA, a few years back. I was looking at some of the papers in the Longfellow House. The Longfellow House was designated by Mrs. Clinton under Saving America's Treasures as one of our two treasures. The Longfellow House in Cambridge and the Frelinghuysen Morris House in Lenox are other treasures. But this was a special treasure for a number of reasons.
One of those related to David McCullough's book is the fact that this was the place where George Washington assumed command of the American forces in the American Revolution. As David McCullough reminds us, this was the first symbol of national unity of a southern general commanding northern troops.
Others had signed up for the American Revolution for periods of time, but the Glovers, which was a small band of troops who had been organized by Colonel Glover, committed themselves for the duration of the war.
They were subsequently enormously important because they were the ones who brought Washington from Brooklyn Heights over to New York when the British fleet came into New York Harbor at a very key time in 1776. And when the wind was blowing from the northeast, it kept the British troops out. The Glovers brought Washington back into the main of New York, which would be Manhattan now. And then he escaped out into southern New York State and eventually over to New Jersey. Then the Glovers were the ones who brought him across the river at Trenton.
But Dave McCullough wrote to me about papers that were there that were not as well cataloged or kept and were in danger of deterioration. These were magnificent handwritten notes of John Adams and John Quincy Adams that were directly relevant to the early years of the founding of this country. Senator Byrd was good enough to review--find out for himself, actually, as one would expect--the substance of that material and made his own independent judgment about the importance of preserving those in terms of
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So when Senator Byrd talks about his love of history, we all know it and have seen it, but I think many of us have also witnessed it in our relationships with Senator Byrd on different issues.
I thank him for offering this amendment.
Some years ago, I was on the Bicentennial of the American Constitution committee. I was on that committee that Chief Justice Berger chaired with a number of our colleagues, Senator Hatch, Senator Thurmond--a number of our colleagues.
From that, which was the bicentennial of the Constitution, one enduring, continuing, and ongoing force from that period was the establishment of the Madison Fellows. And there are two schoolteachers from each State, each year, who are selected through a very rigorous selection process. They receive a stipend for a period of study and then basically commit to teach the Constitution for the rest of the time they are teaching. We have now two in each State of the Union.
We found during that period of time there was so little understanding about the Constitution. We found the challenge that we had so many people who could not read the Constitution. One of the small efforts that came out of that was a literacy corps to try to help in terms of reading.
We have seen a number of different efforts since that time. There are some important initiatives in this legislation to improve reading for the young people in this country. This was a serious deficiency. But I can just say, as we reviewed at that time the importance of developing knowledge about the Constitution, we saw, as well, the failure in too many of our schools of the understanding, the appreciation of being taught good history.
The good Senator's amendment can help immeasurably in developing a better understanding and awareness in history for our students.
I appreciate the way the amendment is structured as well because it gives some special effort to our neediest communities that perhaps do not have the range of different resources in terms of our history and gives them the recognition that they can participate in this program and be able to do so on a very even basis with any of the other communities in the country. So I think it is structured in a very compelling way as well.
I thank the Senator for both his statement and, most of all, for his earlier comments. I know every Member in this body is extremely busy, but if Americans want to know the value of an education and what it means in terms of an individual, read Bob Byrd, West Virginia, Thursday.
Thank you. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I commend my colleague from Massachusetts for this dialog. I was in this Chamber, I think it was probably a week ago, when there were similar circumstances, when the Senator from Massachusetts asked the Senator from West Virginia to bring together his memories of his childhood and the importance of history and the importance of a good education.
So I am pleased to have had the opportunity to hear the Senator speak. I wish more Members had the opportunity to be able to do that because it is a step back into history and a move forward in our ability to understand this great Nation of ours.
I thank the Senator from West Virginia so much for his efforts and for the amendment he has offered today.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, if I could say one final word, I particularly appreciate the reference the Senator from West Virginia made about his teachers and the names of his teachers. And Fryes, is that the geography book?
Mr. BYRD. Fryes.
Mr. KENNEDY. And the history book was----
Mr. BYRD. Muzzie.
Mr. KENNEDY. Muzzie. So I was glad to hear that.
I might just mention one of my great teachers was Arthur Holcombe, who wrote ``Our More Perfect Union,'' who was probably the leading teacher--and certainly was at Harvard--about the Constitutional Convention. When he taught, you had a feeling you were right at the Constitutional Convention.
I was fortunate to have him the last year he taught at Harvard. He taught my father when he went to Harvard, and he taught my three brothers. He taught about the Constitutional Convention. So he had a pretty good grasp of the subject matter by that time. But it was also a course that made a profound impact and impression on me, and one I will never forget.
I thank again the Senator for his good words and his good work today.
Mr. JEFFORDS. Let me share another moment, too. When the Senator mentioned who his teachers were, I thought, let's see if I can remember my teachers. They were Miss Anderson, Miss Maughn, Miss Burns, Miss Brown, Miss Shipp, and then back to Miss Burns for the first six grades. I remember them just as if it were yesterday.
Mr. BYRD. Yes.
Mr. JEFFORDS. But it is amazing what influence teachers
have on students, and others. The principal at the high school I went to was a good friend who was a real mentor to me, also.
So we have to do all we can to make sure every child in this country has the ability to get as good an education and have as wonderful teachers as we all had.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank both of my colleagues for their generous comments.
I sat and marveled, with great admiration, at the recollections that were expressed by Senator Kennedy and at what he had to say today about some of the things that have happened in his great State as we try to contemplate the American Revolution, and then his comments concerning David McCullough; and his reference to John Adams.
Some few years ago I read John Adams' ``Thoughts on Government.'' John Adams, I think, has been underestimated--or really has never been fully appreciated, as he should be.
During the Constitutional Convention, he had had his ``Thoughts on Government'' printed and had passed this work around among the members of the convention. It had a great impact on the members and influenced them very much in their deliberations.
I am glad that David McCullough, who is the right man for the job, is going to have this publication soon concerning John Adams, which leads me to say that knowing of David McCullough's interest in John Adams and knowing of John Adams' influence upon the Framers of the country, I have been interested in trying to get an appropriation for an appropriate monument to John Adams. I understand that David McCullough is also supporting and promoting that idea. I am very much for it.
I thank Senator Kennedy for what he has said about John Quincy Adams. John Qunicy Adams suffered a stroke on February 23, 1848, as he spoke in Statuary Hall. He was a vigorous opponent of America's entry and participation in the Mexican war. He was making this very emotional speech, and he had a stroke. He was taken to the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and died 2 days later--John Quincy Adams. He was elected to nine terms in the House, after having served as President.
Senator Kennedy, we are not supposed to address each other in the first person in this body, but I want to tell you, I really enjoyed what you had to say. I am glad that you have such an appreciation of American history and the great patriots who gave us the Constitution. Senator Kennedy is a student of history sui generis.
Mr. JEFFORDS. And an important part of history.
Mr. BYRD. I thank my friend, Mr. Jeffords, for his recollections of teachers. I remember a Miss McCone who taught history. And she asked me a question one day. I said: Huh? And I kept on studying. I was paying attention to my reading, and Miss McCone had not said another word. Next thing I knew, she had walked around the room and she came up behind me and gave me a resounding slap on the cheek and said: ROBERT, don't you ever say ``huh'' to me again.
I never said ``huh'' to Miss McCone again.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, if there is no further discussion of this
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The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the amendment? If not, the question is on agreeing to amendment No. 402.
The amendment (No. 402) was agreed to.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. BYRD. I again thank both of the Senators.
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, we have had a wonderful moment here, and I now would like to give the opportunity for others to come and give their moments if they so desire.
VOTE EXPLANATION
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, yesterday, during rollcall vote No. 96, the Mikulski amendment, and No. 97, the McConnell amendment, as modified, I was necessarily absent to attend the funeral of a dear friend, Larry Cacciola, of Middletown, Connecticut.
Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' for each amendment.